I have two sugar gliders. Male and female. They have been together since they were joeys. I have had them for 4 years now. Recently the male has been nipping at my females back legs. He bothers her whenever she tries to eat and follows her around the cage and doesn’t leave her alone. They are hissing and bickering at each other more than usual. Can someone give me advice on what this means? Should I separate them? I’m already going to make a vet appt to make sure my female isn’t ill. I would like the male to stop nipping at her!

I wasn’t sure if it was safe to separate them. They have slept together, inseparable for four years. But I will try to separate them tonight and see how they react. Yes he is neutered. I wasn’t sure if this is just food aggression because it seems like he also doesn’t want to share the food. He blocks the bowls and pulls food out of her hands and hisses at her when they are eating.

If this is food aggression then give them one more night together. Try putting their food in several dishes around the cage and see if that helps at all. He cannot be in more than one place at a time eating

I would still schedule a vet appointment to make sure all is good with both of them.

Dobby would try to cover food dishes with his body some times but with the food spread out it does not work and he gave it up and stopped being possessive. Hope it helps. Another possibility is (as was said) that she is in heat and he was just cranky or something and reacted more strongly. sounds more like food aggression. Another temporary option is to take him out to play when you put the food in and let her eat first if you cannot set up multiple feeding spots immediately.

I'll add that around 3-4 years old your gliders become mentally/emotionally adults (long after they have adult bodies). Your boy is entering a new phase of his life and may go through a period of trying out new behaviors and testing boundaries again much like he probably did around 1 year old. This could be food aggression, it could be an inappropriate way of asking his cagemate for attention, it could be some new game only he enjoys, it could be a test of whether his cagemate or you will do anything to stop him, or he may have decided he's a man now and he's in charge of the colony - his motivations are a mystery. At that age, one of mine decided to cry wolf in an attempt to get others in trouble... just because. When that didn't work, he decided to become a master thief instead.

Gliders are weird. Every glider is weird in a different way, and will find new ways its entire life to keep being weird. That's part of their charm.

That’s also very helpful advice thank you! The multiple food bowls scattered around the cage has worked great! (It’s a 6 foot cage that’s so deep that you can sit in it!) they both love going around the cage to find their food. The last year I swear they went through their teenage phase. They wanted nothing to do with me, no all of a sudden they want everything to do with me again. You are probably right they have reached adulthood. Thank you!